The Energy Departnt's minister hadn't noticed the despair on Masumi Aoki's face but continued, "Although the Middle East has halted their natural gas supply to us, our other suppliers can still provide a small amount of natural gas."
"While other energy sources can replace natural gas, so countries' energy facilities must be powered by a natural gas network. For this part of the supply, I'm afraid it will be very difficult to spare any for civil power generation, comrcial power generation, and industrial power generation."
"Minister, do you an we need to increase the proportion of coal-fired power generation?" a coal power rchant asked.
There was a hint of joy on his face; if the nation was going to increase the proportion of coal power, it naturally ant that money would be poured into this area. That indicated that these state-owned coal power enterprises would receive a large sum of funds, and there were substantial interests to be excavated.
"Exactly!" the Energy Departnt's minister said, "This year's natural gas proportion can only reach a maximum of 5%, which ans that this year's coal import volu must at least double from the previous year until we find a new natural gas supplier."
"This will likely take about one and a half to two years!"
"Minister, that's a trivial matter!" a coal power company's boss said, "We have always maintained a long-term cooperation with Sydney's Bowen Coalfield. Because our enterprise is quite small, we only import twenty million tons of coal each year. But if the nation needs it, I am confident that we can increase the import to sixty million tons!"
"Minister, it's pretty much the sa with us! Last year we imported twenty-five million tons of high-quality coal from Yinhei's Sumatran Coalfield. As far as I know, they produce sixty million tons of coal each year for dostic demand, but still have an excess of over thirty million tons each year. I think it's no problem for us to double our import volu as well!"
Listening to the enthusiastic voices of the coal field bosses, Masumi Aoki suddenly let out a cold laugh.
"President Masumi, why are you laughing?" the Energy Departnt's minister suddenly fixed his gaze on Masumi Aoki.
"It's useless!" Masumi Aoki said bitterly, "This year, our Kaibong country shouldn't expect to import a single ton of coal from any coal field!"
"Hahaha, President Masumi, you have quite a sense of humor. We have long-term cooperation with those coal fields. Why wouldn't they earn money if they could? Our contracts last at least three years, and a breach would incur a high penalty. Those coal enterprises wouldn't do such foolish things!"
"Right, President Masumi, it can't be that your import volu can't et our country's ergency needs this year, can it? Nipa Corporation is so big; such a trivial matter shouldn't be a problem for you!"
"Indeed, the coal fields cooperating with Nipa Corporation amount to more than all of ours combined. Importing a few tens of millions or even a hundred million tons more shouldn't be too difficult, right?"
Even though they were all enterprises from Kaibong country, Nipa Corporation, as a large company, was naturally the target of many envious eyes. They were the largest coal power rchant in the nation, receiving the most resources from the state, and their profits were the highest each year. Many coveted their resources!
"Enough!" Faced with their ridicule, Masumi Aoki shouted angrily, "You idiots have no idea what's going on! If you don't believe it, then call your beloved suppliers and ask if they have any coal to sell you!"
Everyone's expression changed. This was the office of the Energy Departnt's minister, not the president's office of Nipa Corporation. Masumi Aoki dared to slam the table here; wasn't this showing disrespect to the minister?
But his actions made the other presidents realize there must be a real problem; otherwise, Masumi Aoki wouldn't have acted so irrationally.
"Let
check first," the president of Nipa Corporation was the first to pull out a phone, "Minister, please excuse
for a mont."
"Mr. Aoki, please feel free," the Energy Departnt's minister wasn't angry. He stared at Masumi Aoki, not the first ti he had dealt with him. Masumi Aoki always seed humble and mild-mannered, at least in front of this high-ranking minister, and had never lost his composure like this before.
"Rosshan, it's Aoki!"
Everyone pricked up their ears to listen to President Aoki's conversation.
"Hahaha, long ti no see," Aoki exchanged pleasantries, "The thing is, this year we hope to increase our import quota from the coal fields. I'm aware that Mr. Rosshan's mines have at least thirty million tons of stock each year, and I'd like to take all that off your hands, offering you a satisfying price!"
"What?" Suddenly, Aoki seed to have received so shockingly unexpected news, "How could this be? Mr. Rosshan, we have a contract!"
Aoki's expression grew increasingly dark, "This... what price have they offered you?"
"200 US dollars a ton? How is that possible? That price is more than double the historical high. Rosshan, you mustn't be deceived by them!"
"The other party has made the paynt already? They have booked a year's supply of coal? But our..."
"I..."
Wumu sounded very excited, but before he could finish, the other party had already hung up the phone.
"Mr. Wumu, what's happened?" the Minister of the Energy Departnt quickly inquired.
"The owner of the Yinhei Sumatra Coalfield said that soone has taken over their entire coalfield intended for sale to us in Kaibong, offering a price of 200 US dollars per ton, and they've also paid the penalty fee for breaking the contract!" Wumu's face had turned a bit pale, "Mr. Masumi Aoki, what... what is going on?"
"Let
try!" Another president imdiately contacted his own suppliers but still brought back despairing news."
"Tsarist Russia's Berchozl Coalfield has also canceled their cooperation with us; soone has expressly offered to buy all the coal ant for our Kaibong at 180 US dollars per ton!"
"At the Sydney Coalfield, soone has bid 240 US dollars per ton..."
One after another, the presidents made calls and received the sa surprising results: coal sales to other countries from these coalfields had no issues, with the price and quantity unchanged; however, all the coal ant for their Kaibong had been snatched up at higher prices!
Just as Masumi Aoki had said, there was no coal available for their Kaibong from any coalfield in the world!
"Mr. Masumi Aoki, what exactly is going on? Please explain!" In the conference room, everyone's eyes were focused on Masumi Aoki's face.
"I don't know what's happening either, all I know is that this is all done by that Huaxia man nad Zhang nglong!"
"Zhang nglong? The world's richest man?"
"Our Kaibong has not offended him, right? Why would he do sothing like this?"
"I think the Minister might be more aware of this matter than we are!" said Masumi Aoki.
He was certain that these coal businessn and Zhang nglong had absolutely no connections, and it was even less likely that they had offended him; there was only one possibility—that their governnt had done sothing to harm Zhang nglong's interests, so he was retaliating this way!
Of course, this was just a conjecture by Masumi Aoki.
"Are you sure it's Zhang nglong?" The Minister's face turned extrely grave; as a high-ranking state official, he naturally knew that Kaibong had seriously interfered with Zhang nglong's import of new earth minerals.
Regardless of whether the Huaxia people could produce high-performance chips, with no raw materials, even if they had the technology, it would be impossible to achieve anything.
"Mr. Oliver from the Bowen Coalfield told
personally," Masumi Aoki said, "I even suspect that Zhang nglong intentionally let us know that this was all his doing."
"Moreover, I suspect the cutoff of natural gas is also related to him," said Masumi Aoki, "Zhang nglong told Mr. Oliver that he is buying the coal that was ant for us also as a contribution to combat global warming."
"Bullshit! Is he trying to cut off the lifeline of our Kaibong?"
"What exactly does he want to do?"
"Does he really want to declare war on our entire country by himself?"
"This Huaxia man... bastard..." They had anticipated that Zhang nglong might retaliate, but they did not expect the counterattack to co so swiftly and fiercely!
Zhang nglong was not playing by the rules at all, and with his first strike, he had essentially blocked off more than half of their nation's energy imports! Ultraman fighting monsters didn't start with blasting rays right off the bat. Don't young people today have any sense of martial virtue at all?
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